Revealed: Zillow's $26 million secret

Online realty startup fills its coffers

By JOHN COOK, SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

Published 10:00 pm, Wednesday, January 18, 2006

Zillow.com -- the highly secretive Seattle online real estate startup -- will have a decent war chest when it launches its service later this year. According to a filing with the state, the year-old Internet company recently raised $26 million in venture capital financing. That's on top of the $6 million that the company pulled in from board members and employees last summer.

In October, the company announced an investment from Benchmark Capital and Technology Crossover Ventures -- two deep-pocketed Silicon Valley investors. However, at the time of the announcement, the company did not disclose how much it had raised.

On Wednesday, Zillow.com Director of Public Relations Amy confirmed that it has received a total of $32 million. That would make Zillow one of the most heavily funded Internet companies in the state in the past 12 months.

"It is a lot of money," said Bohutinsky, who declined to release details about the service or say when it would debut. "We are still not talking about a launch date. It will happen in a matter of months and we are working closer to it every day."

Zillow.com was founded by former Expedia executives Rich Barton and Lloyd Frink. Because of their success at Expedia -- the world's largest online travel agency -- many are eagerly anticipating how they will attack the multibillion-dollar real estate industry.

Still, few details have trickled out about the startup, and Barton is keeping very quiet about the idea. One Seattle real estate professional has even started a blog to track the mystery behind the company.

"We really think this thing can be big," Barton told the Seattle P-I in October. "And we want to be the first guys to do it. And there are enough people interested in what we are doing that we have to be careful."

Possible competitors include Kirkland-based HouseValues, a publicly traded company that boasted $63 million in cash in September, and Seattle-based Redfin, which recently landed $1.25 million from Madrona Venture Group.

Bohutinsky did disclose one way that Zillow.com is using the new funds: hiring. Located in downtown Seattle, it now employs 75 people. Its Web site lists more than a dozen job openings.